February 2nd, 2012
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Most US middle and high schools sell soft drinks, candy and chips to their students. These practices have been widely criticized as contributing to childhood and adolescent obesity. However, a new study followed approximately 19,450 children from fifth to eight grade. Researchers found the children’s weight gain was not associated with the introduction or the duration of exposure to competitive foods. This did not vary by gender, race/ethnicity or family socioeconomic status. Possible explanations are that children’s food preferences and dietary patterns are firmly established before adolescence. Also, schools are highly structured whereas home life may have more opportunities for snacking. http://www.asanet.org/images/journals/docs/pdf/soe/Jan12SOEFeature.pdf.
December 27th, 2011
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Gee, teen-agers want to eat junk food? Eating advice of experts and parents rejected?
No way, right?
Well, if you were skeptical before about school meal reforms, this article will be right up your alley. It shows the ‘creativity’ of teenagers in frustrating the nutritional advice of adults. L.A. schools’ healthful school lunches panned by LAUSD students – latimes.com
December 13th, 2011
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If you are following the debate over health care reform and the Republican presidential race, you know that governmental mandates are a hot issue.
Michele Bachmann (R-MN) made Texas Governor Rick Perry’s mandate that girls in Texas receive the HPV vaccine a big issue. Michele Bachmann’s mistakes pile up – The Washington Post Now comes a Florida Republican legislator, Larry Metz, is so opposed to government mandates he has introduced legislation to repeal the state’s requirement for physical education for 6th to 8th graders. Bill would cut physical education mandate – UPI.com Newt Gingrich, according to ThinkProgress, has called for government mandated physical education, K through 12, as a way to combat obesity. He also has called for soft drink companies to develop healthy alternatives or have reduced access to the youth market. Gingrich Supported Expanding Federal Physical Education Mandates In 2008 | ThinkProgress
Meanwhile, ThinkProgress quotes Rick Santorum as saying, “If hunger is a problem in America, they why do we have an obesity problem among the people who we say have a hunger program? Santorum: We Don’t Need Food Stamps Because Obesity Rates Are So High | ThinkProgress. Well, part of the answer regarding the food stamp program, now called SNAP, can be found at SNAP to Health! | Snap To Health
December 3rd, 2011
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November 29th, 2011
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It has been well documented that obese workers are paid less than their co-workers for the same job. But is this because employers are deducting for lost productivity and higher health care costs or because of bias against persons with obesity. The best expert in the field lends his conclusion at The Obesity Wage Penalty – Room for Debate – NYTimes.com
November 22nd, 2011
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Simulation model predicts increased health care costs and utilization in rising obese populations in the United States and the United Kingdom, predicting 65 million more obese in the US and 11 million more in the UK, meaning 6 to 8.5 million cases of diabetes, 5.7 to 7.3 million cases of heart disease, 492,000 to 669,000 additional cases of cancer in the US and UK combined. The combined health care costs increases are $48-66 billion per year in the US and by £1·9-2 billion per year in the United Kingdom. Health and economic burden of the projected obesity t… [Lancet. 2011] – PubMed – NCBI
November 20th, 2011
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No doubt by now you have heard that House Republicans attached a provision to the government funding bill to un-do a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulation calling for more nutritious school lunches, paid for by the USDA. The politics of pizza (and ketchup, too) – Charleston Charleston Democrat | Examiner.com
There is more than enough shock and outrage to go around following this decision. See the clip from NBC News’ Brian Williams below.
The predictable story line is that special interest groups, in this case the pizza/French fries industry has overcome the USDA and the Obama Administration by campaign donations and lobbying. Fair enough but only part of the story.
The facts are that Congress has established, and USDA continues to support, agricultural commodity groups whose sole purpose is to increase consumption of their product, usually by creating ‘partnerships’ with fast food industry. These groups are funded by ‘assessments’ imposed on almost all producers and enforced as federal taxes. The money is given to private industry groups with little to no accountability to the public or even within the government. And while we can all smirk that Congress declaring pizza a vegetable, millions of dollars are spent by such groups. For example, the National Dairy Council (NDC) (the people who brought you the milk moustache ads) promote the use of cheese on pizzas. According to NDC, 25% of all cheese manufactured in the U.S. is used on pizza. Their 2010 report to Congress states, “Research showed that negative pizza cheese volume trends were having an impact on the dairy industry. As a result, dairy producers partnered with Domino’s to reinvigorate the pizza category and launch American Legends, a line of six specialty pizzas that use up to 40% more cheese than a regular Domino’s pizza.” Agricultural Marketing Service – Report to Congress at page 8.
The U.S. Potato Board promotes potato chips. To see the work of their “Chip Committee,” follow this link:United States Potato Board – Chip-Stock
While the nutrition folks at USDA sincerely want to use their resources to improve public health, the ‘other’ hand at USDA is doing everything it can to promote more and more human consumption of their commodity. Why, at this point in the obesity epidemic, do we have any governmental program ( even if not funded by taxpayers but using the federal government’s coercive power to collect funds from producers) to encourage people to eat more, not only in the United States but internationally?
November 17th, 2011
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Reed Abelson of the New York Times reports that that higher penalties for employees who are obese are coming. He writes, “Policies that impose financial penalties on employees have doubled in the last two years to 19 percent of 248 major American employers recently surveyed. Next year, Towers Watson, the benefits consultant that conducted the survey, said the practice – among employers with at least 1,000 workers – was expected to double again. “ Smokers Penalized With Health Insurance Premiums – NYTimes.com The article looks closely at penalties imposed by Wal-Mart on smokers.
The enhanced penalties are the result of the Affordable Care Act. Led by Steve Burd, CEO of Safeway Inc. a broad business coalition pushed a provision (of course called a “wellness” provision in Washington-speak) to allow employers to charge overweight employees higher health insurance premiums than those meeting the employer’s weight standard. President Barack Obama applauded incorporating this “Republican idea” into his health care reform legislation Republican Ideas Included in the President’s Proposal | The White House.
